In this article, we aim to explore the agency of scientific entrepreneurs and research managers in shaping their Triple Helix contexts. Drawing on institutional documents and in-depth interviews with research managers and scientists in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the study shows that trust in scientific entrepreneurs from research managers, their scientific standing and leadership, and type of academic entrepreneurship are central in shaping the Triple Helix relationships. Research managers frame themselves as passive service-providers for scientists’ commercialization activities while scientists see them as facilitating creative employment arrangements. Research managers perceive scientists as self-motivated highly creative risk-takers. The studied scientific entrepreneurs negotiate their institutional arrangements and find flexible solutions for the structural barriers within their research organisations. At the same time, they tend to avoid taking personal risks when it comes to contractual arrangements and their careers.

The study identifies two types of agency exerted to shape the Triple Helix context—bricolage and institutional entrepreneurship. Bricolage activities and the trust of research managers in the leadership and autonomy of scientific entrepreneurs prepare the basis for institutional change. This can be the ground for institutional entrepreneurship to take place and reshape the Triple Helix relationships in the particular context.

在这篇文章中，我们旨在探索科学企业家和研究经理在塑造他们的三螺旋环境中的作用。根据机构文件和对德国北莱茵-威斯特法伦州研究管理人员和科学家的深入访谈，该研究表明，研究管理人员对科学企业家的信任、他们的科学地位和领导能力以及学术创业类型是科学创业的核心。塑造三螺旋关系。研究管理者将自己定位为科学家商业化活动的被动服务提供者，而科学家则将他们视为促进创造性的就业安排。研究管理人员将科学家视为自我激励、极富创造力的冒险者。所研究的科学企业家协商他们的制度安排，并为他们研究组织内的结构性障碍找到灵活的解决方案。与此同时，在涉及合同安排和职业生涯时，他们倾向于避免承担个人风险。

该研究确定了两种类型的代理机构来塑造三螺旋环境——拼装和机构企业家精神。Bricolage 活动和研究经理对科学企业家的领导和自主权的信任为制度变革奠定了基础。这可以成为制度创业的基础，并在特定背景下重塑三螺旋关系。